The weekend that was...

I am back to work after a weekend of seeing long time friends (didn't want to use "old") in Las Vegas. My friend Chary is getting married in June and she wanted a bridal shower in Las Vegas. So her twin, Chisty or Xsty as we have been spelling her nickname and I planned it. Aside from the 3 of us, we would be meeting 3 other friends who flew from all over the U.S. - Rhyna flew from Indiana, Abigail and Sandy flew from Texas. They wouldn't be able to make to Chary's wedding in Maui so they decided to come for her bridal shower. Accommodations wouldn't be a problem since my uncle has a house. That detail set aside we wanted it to be a fun, relaxing weekend of spa, shopping, dinner, a show and hanging out .

Friday - we set out to leave early, knowing the traffic that we should expect which is pretty much normal in any drive to Las Vegas from L.A. Early here meant 5PM since we all had work that we couldn't leave early from. Tana, Xsty's friend was so nice to drive us, never mind if he would be in the company of women all weekend. It was a pretty okay drive. Save for a short area where it was kind of slow, the rest of the drive was pretty smooth. We got into my uncle's house close to midnight already so we decided to call it a day after all we have an early start the next day.

Saturday - even though it was my uncle's house I was still "namamahay" which I will define as the inability to fall asleep in other's people's homes. I wasn't able to sleep right away and yet I woke up early. We have a spa appointment at 2PM which was so nicely arranged by Abigail. We all decided to meet up at Bally's where our spa appointments would be. Rhyna was the first to arrive then Abby and Sandy soon followed. With 6 people needing to check in and all of us trying to catch up with each other's lives it was pretty chaotic. We all have the reason to really be excited after all we haven't seen each other in a long time. Well, Chary, Xsty and myself try to see each as much as we can. We live pretty close to each other. But the others were a totally different story. I last saw Rhyna 2003 in Chicago, Abigail & Sandy last year. The others were a different story though. Abigail hasn't seen Rhyna since 1992 when Abby left Tacloban. Rhyna hasn't seen Chary and Xsty since 2000 and she will meet Sandy for the first time.

In between our massages, facials, paraffin what have you's we hanged out at the jacuzzis and steam rooms catching up. It was fun to do all these girly stuff with friends. For most of us this was our first spa visit. I decided to just get the half-hour aromatherapy massage since I didn't know what to expect so I decided to start with the basic. Good decision on my part. The masseuse asked me what oils I wanted and since I wanted to be relax, I picked peppermint and lavender. It was so luxurious. The pressure was just enough and it felt good after. We took advantage of all the facilities available for us and did all the possible "kikay" stuff that you could ever imagine. There was a full vanity dresser with all the hair dryers, curling irons, flat irons imaginable which was great. Our activities were carefully timed so we wouldn't be rushing and all so we really took our time.

Once everyone was ready, we took the walk to Bellagio where we decided to have a buffet dinner. Everything in Vegas is pretty much accessible with the crosswalks in every corner but try walking in heels and its not exactly a walk in the park. So for the price of beauty we took every pain in. The weather was pretty warm for this time of year which was great. There was a long line at the buffet and we were already hungry but since we were already there, we decided to stand in line. Good thing it wasn't much of a wait. Our heads were spinning with the choices that we have but at least they were all good ones especially the dessert ones. My friends were pretty shocked to see my dessert choices which I will save for future posts when I have the picture to be presented as evidence.

Our show was still at 10:30 so we had so much time to walk around the hotel. It was a good coincidence that Menardo, a classmate from high school was also in town together with his wife and officemates. So we all decided to meet up in Bellagio as well. It was great seeing him again. I think the last time I saw him was 7 years ago. We got introduced to his wife, Nova and of course the must thing to do had to be done - picture taking! LOL

After parting ways, we once again walked the trek back to Bally's in time for our show, Jubilee which was this classic Las Vegas show. The show was interesting to say the least. Chary said she was a bit distracted because of the costumes or lack thereof during some parts. Still, it was something new to see. After the show, we decided to find a place where we can just chill. Of course, women that we are, save for Tana it took awhile before we came up with the decision. We went to Paris to see what we can find. We found this little lounge with a live band (2 of the band members are Pinoy) in one corner decided that this was the place. Abigail decided to start the night by ordering a round of tequila in honor of the bride-to-be. Being that we are not exactly young like we used to be and don't drink as much as we used to, the shot was a bit strong for our liking. After tequila, we had a round of Midori Sours. After that needless to say we were all a bit happy and tipsy. We decided to call, actually Chary decided to call Chito, another friend who lives in the East Coast. By my calculation it was around 5:15 AM his time. I am pretty sure we roused him from his sleep. LOL But it was still great. By this time alcohol and then lack of sleep is already taking a toll. At around 3 we decided to call it a night...or should I say day. After saying our byes (Abby and Sandy slept at the hotel since they've got employee privileges) the rest of us headed for our home for the weekend. By this time and after 2 bottles of water, I was pretty much sober and awake so we ended talking some more. We finally went to bed around 5 as the sun was already about to rise.

Sunday - for some reasons I still woke up at 8:30 which means that I only slept for 3 hours! While my housemates were fast asleep I decided to start tidying the house up. No one really lives in that house. The only time there are people there is when my uncle and his family or family members feel like going to Vegas. Well, at least its better than having to pay a big amount for a hotel room used for just sleeping and taking a bath. We are going to meet Abby and Sandy for brunch before we start our drive back to L.A. The 3 ladies (Abby, Sandy and Rhyna) do not leave Vegas till Monday. On our way back to Bellagio for brunch we already saw the traffic that we would have to endure so Tana decided that it would be best if we wait it out which means we have time to go shopping at the outlet stores. We had some dimsum which was just right after that heavy dinner we had the previous night. We were all pretty excited to go shopping but our excitement soon waned because of the heat. It was so hot that the sun was pretty much taking out all our energy. We ended up just going to Banana Republic and just walked in and out of the other stores. After subjecting ourselves to that heat, we dropped off Abigail and Rhyna off at the hotel and on our way back to L.A. we go. Good thing we waited it out because the traffic wasn't so bad anymore again save for some parts. But then again that was just the after effect of the accident that happened early. It was close to 11 when I got home, my body drained of energy, my eyes begging for sleep and my brain not at all functioning but still glad for this weekend to be with friends and great company! Next stop April or August 2006 - Houston, Texas!

more pics updated 5/25